in effort, I guess—
but I wonder
if there’s just as much
in our efforts
to erase?
For it sure seems to take
a revolutionary act—
not to mention
all the strength
of Hercules at his labors—
to push back
day after day
against the incessant wind
against the incessant wind
of competition;
to hit backspace
on the runaway
on the runaway
sentence of our chatter
and slim down each
column inch of schadenfreude
and envy;
to rake, before we
turn out the light, the ripples
of history and obligation
from the ocean
of sand that we keep
on our nightstand
in a glass box
to remind us of the only
work that matters.
